Workin’ It

No takers on the Fall Special (really?), but there’s a few projects I’ve been meaning to get around to anyway.  Like this series of monster rock slabs that needed some shaping to link together (and you know that these things always look smaller when shot from the bottom).

After a couple of hours, this is what it looked like…

Which meant it was time to guinea pig it.  I did the first run from a bump near the top.  That bump was kind of freaking me out a little, but starting there necessitated a surf turn style drop in from a standing start.  Kind gnarly in itself.

Nailed it…

After which I went back and hit it from the top, which was much easier.  Now this line drops into a more moderate rock (as demonstrated by Dave)…

…and then into the NightStocker.

From here we’ve scouted another couple of hefty rock faces that will link straight into Holy Roller.   We’ll see if we can get that done, as there’s some committed woodwork to pull off.

This coming weekend the plan is:

  • Saturday – Shuttles in the Mice and Beer Run
  • Sunday – Shuttles in Kelowna or West Kelowna

Only $60 per person per day.  Dedicated driver, lots of vertical.

Dirtbags – Prologue

Your crew is called the “Dirtbags,” eh?  Well, we should get along just fine.  Since this is Dave Silver and a bunch of guys from BC Bike Race, I don’t feel so bad about missing the Retallack Legends Weekend (OK, I totally think it sucks that these are on the same weekend, but I had to make the choice weeks ago). Enough excuses, let us ride!

Some of the crew got here a bit earlier, so I took them for what I thought would be the first of a couple of laps up in the Mice.

Things got a bit hairy right off the bat, with a bunch of very XC and 29’r-y bikes rolling into some seriously steep terrain.

My plans for more runs were soon thwarted by a series of flat tires though.  Damn coastal kids…we set a new record for most flats in one day this season in a single group with 8.

…and we missed Shaun and Linnette’s wedding, although we did hear some of it.

Oh well, we still managed to relax with a beer on the beach afterwards.

Tomorrow, it gets serious.  Better rest up.

Mayo Clinic

We’re really getting our southern hemisphere on here at Bush Pilot.  Last week it was the Kiwi’s and now it’s Gaby Mayo and friends from Australia (hence the bad pun.  I wasn’t gong to call it “Hold the Mayo”).

As usual, we thought we’d start with an easy trail.

But of course things got out of hand in a hurry.  The next one is of course a Canadian, that being Dave Foot’s first run on the Night Stocker.  You can always tell the locals by the half lid helmets.

Since that went so well, we kept the pace up and also ran the line on Jack and Jill.  Gaby had no problem with it, although Pat and Jamie weren’t convinced.

No day in the Mice seems complete without a little session on the Redemption Compression.

As it seemed that the boys were a lot more at home on the jumps and less comfy on the technical, we did another run up on the Bog to get their huck on.  Which was the right call, as they on sighted pretty much all of it.  So no pics of the jumps.  Here’s Jamie on a random steep part instead.

Then we finished with some classic Canadian sand chutes.

Riding blisters…

Day one down, with beers in the lake.

…and one more for the ladies….